Turkey: July trial ignored fundamental guarantees of the rights of the defence | Joint press release

July 18, 2012

From July 16 to 18, 2012, our organisations attended in Istanbul the opening of the trial indicting 46 lawyers, 3 of their staff members and 1 journalist. They insist that identifying a lawyer with his client amounts to an unacceptable criminalization of the lawyers’ profession.

Our organisations denounce a mass trial that targets lawyers, who seem to be identified with their clients or their clients’ political opinions. They are concerned by the remand into custody of 36 indicted lawyers, as well as by the fact that all demands for their release from pre-trial detention have been systematically denied for 8 months, without any sound reason.